Meet Jaccy Thomas - The Teddy Bear Artist Behind Driftwood Bears

MEET THE ARTIST
Jaccy Thomas

Hi...Pleased to meet you...My name is Jacqueline (folks call me Jaccy) Thomas and I am the artist who created all the bears you are about to meet on this site.

People reckon I, and 'He Who Reckons He Should Be Obeyed' – commonly known as BigBadOzDave – are a pretty lucky pair, because we live and work in the magnificent tropical wonderland of the Whitsundays, here in North Queensland, Australia...I know, I know, it's a tough life, but someone's gotta do it, haven't they?

I have been an artist for longer than I care to remember, and until recently I was a practicing professional Folk Artist & teacher, which I used to do along with my teddybear art...makes for a busy life, but I now specialise almost exclusively in teddies.

Since moving into teddybears, I have come to love the craft and get great enjoyment out of creating another little 'person' every time I turn the finished product over and look into his or her eyes.

Another very important part of my bearmaking is The Angel Bear Project. This is a project I and the BigBad have under- taken to raise medical research funds for the Australian Angelman Syndrome Association – a group of dedicated parents of kiddies suffering from this terrible affliction, unfortunately from which our little second grandson Lachlan sufffers. Make sure you visit The Story of the Angel Bears... it's a wonderful story.

Because up here in North Queensland we are "only 24 hours from everywhere", I sell most of my bears via the internet... so you're right here in my shopfront with your visit to my website.

I have been indeed very fortunate since beginning bear making, with three of my teddies selected for the very prestigious Dancing Bear Folk Center Teddybear Museum in the USA, making me one of only two Australian bear artists selected for such an honour.

I've also had moderate success with showing my bears, and you can see all my award winners in the Winners section of this website.

Anyway, enough of my prattling on...you're here to look at teddy bears, and by clicking on the 'Next' button at right, that's exactly what you will be doing. Enjoy them....and thanks for visiting.

JACCY THOMAS